A. Michael Spence argues that the eurozone has an opportunity to jumpstart economic recovery by relaxing fiscal constraints on the condition that member states use the reprieve to initiate public sector investment and structural reforms.

"The biggest danger from this side of the Atlantic is that the British government will be preoccupied for the coming years with how to grant and manage greater autonomy not just in Scotland but in Wales, Northern Ireland, and England – and then further distracted by the debate over its contested relationship with Europe," argues Richard N. Haass in the Financial Times.

This document was issued on September 5, 2014, after a summit with NATO leaders which addressed the instability in Europe between Russia and the Ukraine and the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The declaration includes increased sanctions against Russia and a rapid-reaction force based in Eastern Europe to act against moves from the Russian military.

John Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison distinguished service professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of "Why the Ukraine Crisis is the West's Fault" in the September/October 2014 issue of Foreign Affairs,on the unintended effects of NATO expansion.

Listen to Ivo Daalder, former U.S. permanent representative to NATO and president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and professor of political science at Stanford University discuss NATO's role in addressing global challenges, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, and ISIS.

Adam Mount and Hans Kristensen argue that tactical nuclear bombs in Europe are no longer useful for defense, deterrance, or assurance. They have had little effect on Russian President Vladimir Putin's transgressions in Eastern Europe and instead detract from more useful defense initiatives.

On September 3, 2014, speaking from Tallinn, Estonia, President Barack Obama pledged that NATO would defend its Baltic allies, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, as he called for a united stand against Russia's aggression and laid blame for escalating clashes in Ukraine on Moscow.

Responding to Prime Minister David Cameron's suggestion of confiscating the passports of British subjects fighting abroad, Ed Husain asks, "In trying to reduce the terror threat, is the government unwittingly increasing it?"

When Western leaders gather for the NATO summit in Wales next week, they will be expected to answer calls to revive the old alliance in order to confront Russia’s gradual invasion of Ukraine. Despite this new clarity of purpose, however, the alliance remains profoundly divided.

CFR Experts Guide

The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.

New Council Special Reports

Campbell evaluates the implications of the Boko Haram insurgency and recommends that the United States support Nigerian efforts to address the drivers of Boko Haram, such as poverty and corruption, and to foster stronger ties with Nigerian civil society.

Koblentz argues that the United States should work with other nuclear-armed states to manage threats to nuclear stability in the near term and establish processes for multilateral arms control efforts over the longer term.

The authors argue that it is essential to begin working now to expand and establish rules and norms governing armed drones, thereby creating standards of behavior that other countries will be more likely to follow.

2014 Annual Report

Learn more about CFR’s mission and its work over the past year in the 2014 Annual Report. The Annual Report spotlights new initiatives, high-profile events, and authoritative scholarship from CFR experts, and includes a message from CFR President Richard N. Haass.Read and download »